Cher:
I don't know, there was only the first one and I didn't go to it because
I thought I have to see what they're going to do, I hope it's not just a
bunch of crazy people getting together. It seems from the pictures I've
seen and how they conducted themselves, and I've talked to people that
were there and they had a blast. It seems strange that people would have
anything to talk about that had to do with me for a couple of days. The
people had a blast and I talked to these people and they made friends
and had so much to talk about, I don't know it's a little bit beyond me.
I've come into contact with a lot of people that were there and I said
well what did you do? and they've said there was so much: we talked and
had pictures and videos and I don't know! I might go to the next one
since the first one wasn't a complete debacle it might be nice to go to
this one.

KL (=Kristian Luuk): I read that there was going to be
a Cher convention next year in Las Vegas. Do you know about this?

CHER: There was one last year in Chicago. I didn't...

KL: A big convention for 3 days where people gather around and
share Cher memorabilia, and they have auctions and the money goes to benefits
[sic, charities?]. Were you invited?

CHER: Well, yeah, they did invite me. They did invite me, but
I didn't go because I wasn't sure how well it was going to be received, and what
their end result was going to be. But from what I understand, I got pictures and
all that stuff, and it was kinda fun. It was kinda like Star Trek, a Star Trek
convention. And I thought, well, that's really interesting!

KL: There will be one next year in July, I think, in Las Vegas.

CHER: Yeah, and I think I'm going to go to this one.

KL: You think so? Well, they are going to be happy about that!
How does that feel, people having a convention about you, for 3 days? And it
wasn't cheap, I mean, it cost money to participate.

CHER: I don't know, you know, it's kinda beyond me.

KL: OK, I don't think very many people have these conventions
about themselves.

CHER: I'm not even sure how they thought it up. Someone must
have been sitting around really bored and gone: I have an idea, let's have a
Cher convention!

KL: No, I don't think it worked that way. I think you should
go. Maybe we could go together(?)

CHER: You could cover it! We could do a show there.

KL: They would be so happy if you called and said you were
coming.

ATLANTACher in Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta Braves
Coffee Talk Interview: Thursday afternoon, June 28th, 2001.First Question when opened to the floor:

Chelsea Recicar: Hi Cher! As far as I know, you are one
of the only entertainers who has had a convention held in their honor.
What did you think of that and is there any possibility you will attend
The Cher Convention 2002?

Cher: I guess that puts me in the same category as Trekkies! I wanted
to see how the first convention went, and I heard it went well! YES, I
would like to go to Cher 2002!

LAS VEGAS -- Want to dress up like Cher? Want to answer Cher trivia
questions in a twisted version of The Weakest Link? Want to bid on Sonny &
Cher memorabilia? Want to sing in a Cher karaoke? Want to win a brand new
Harely-Davidson motorcycle autographed by Cher? Want to see Cher's Cleopatra
costume from the movie "Mermaids." Want to (we're not kidding about
this) participate in a seminar on Cher?

If the answer to any of these questions is in the affirmative then you need
to be at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, July 12th and 13th. This is where the
serious Cher fans from the US and at least eight other countries will gather
for the Second Cher Convention. The first convention was held in July 2000 in
Chicago was an overwhelming success.

Fans will be Cher-ing it up even more this year with two dinner shows, a
charity auction and all day, wall-to-wall Cher Convention activities. What
better town for a Cher convention than Las Vegas?

Funds raised at the convention will go to a great cause that also has a
strong Cher connection: the Children's Craniofacial Association (CCA). Cher
first became involved with CCA following her award winning performance in
"Mask," in which she played the mother of a boy born with a severe
facial disfigurement. Cher is the National Spokesperson for CCA, and often
attends the organization's events, particularly the annual retreat for the CCA
kids and their families. Cher also visits affected children and invites them
to her shows across the country. The convention was conceived as a unique way
of honoring Cher by supporting a cause in which she deeply believes.
Additional information about CCA can be found at http://www.ccakids.com/.

Funds raised from raffling off a Cher-autographed, new Harley-Davidson
Softtail motorcycle will go directly to CCA.

Cher fans from around the country organize the Cher Convention. Additional
information on the convention and registration information can be obtained at
http://www.cherconvention.com/.

The 42-year-old contestant from Phoenix had erred while answering Cher
Questions No. 1 and 2.

Though a Cher fan since 1971, Costa didn't know the working title for Cher's
1979 album "Prisoner."

Nor did he know the name of the fitness book Cher co-wrote in 1990.

So when he blurted "Heart of Stone," the correct answer to Cher
Question No. 3, he received a vigorous round of applause from the audience.

More importantly, he retained his seat in the "Cher Trivia" game.

And so it continued in the dimly lit Riviera convention room.

For nearly an hour Cher questions were fired off to surprisingly
knowledgeable contestants: "Which candidate for president did Sonny &
Cher support in 1968?" "Who designs the interiors of Cher's
homes?" "Who read Cher's name when she won an Oscar?"

"Cher Trivia" was just one of the highlights at last weekend's Cher
Convention 2002 at the Riviera, where Cher fans from throughout the country
converged to purchase Cher's clothes and Cher memorabilia, dance to Cher music
and sit through Cher seminars.

Fans watched Cher impersonators sing Cher hits, sat through a live recreation
of "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" and over dinner confessed to each
other their longtime feelings for the star.

Though the convention's turnout paled in comparison to the Cher convention
held in Chicago two years ago (because of Sept. 11 and the fact that Cher is on
tour, organizers say), fans were not disappointed. Many found the kinship they
sought.

Mary Ladd, a 32-year-old Los Angeles resident and host of "Cher
Trivia," said the conventions are a release for many diehard Cher fans who
keep their deep affections for the star muzzled in their day-to-day lives.

"It's not always PC in the real world," Ladd said referring to the
intense Cher fanship displayed by the conventioneers.

Here, she said, "They can be Cher nerds."

Ladd, who writes and edits the pop culture Web magazine apeculture.com, has
been following Cher's career since 1975. At the Chicago convention she led fans
through such games as "Name that Cher Tune" and "Cher
Bingo."

The winner of "Cher Trivia," a game that she assembled, would
garner the title of Master Cher Scholar of the United States. Losers were sent
offstage while being insulted by a Cher impersonator (quoting a line from a Cher
movie of the losing contestant's choosing).

"This is like Cher agony for some people," Ladd said during the
game, while a contestant struggled with the answer to "Which department
store in Los Angeles did Cher work at as a teen?"

"Cher-gony!" a fan interjected from the audience.

Cher love

Many fans attending the convention, inluding those who traveled from
overseas, struggled breathlessly to explain just why they love Cher so much.

"She's my angel," one said. "She's a legend," said
another.

Others referred to the Grammy- and Oscar-winning performer, who has taken
multiple hits from the media during her four-decade career, as a survivor and a
source of inspiration.

Ladd simply said that Cher is never boring, she is often unpredictable and
always sincere.

Sincerity is what won the diva over among representatives and members of the
Children's Craniofacial Association(CCA), a handful who happened to be at the
convention.

Cher became national spokeswoman for the Dallas nonprofit organization after
starring in the 1985 movie "Mask," and has befriended children who
have facial differences, including Scott Guzzo, an 18-year-old from Evansville,
Ind., who was born with Crane-Heisi Syndrome.

Guzzo and his family attended both Cher conventions as VIP guests and have
met the star on a few occasions. Cher sent flowers to the teen this year when he
was ill.

"She's not the diva, not the megastar with these kids," Paula Guzzo,
mother of Scott, said while flipping through a photo album of Cher and her son.
"She's their friend."

Supporting a Cher cause

Knowing of Cher's interest in the association, Cher fans decided that the
conventions should serve as a benefit for CCA. At the Chicago ("Cher-cago")
convention more than $20,000 was raised for the association.

Fans had no problem shelling out money for the cause this year.

"We wanted to say 'thank you' to Cher for all the years she has given
us," said Darla Kramer, who flew from Baltimore to attend the convention
and help raise funds for CCA. "This was the best way we knew how."

Kramer arrived in Las Vegas three days early to avoid any chance of missing
the convention. She missed the Chicago convention when her flight was delayed
due to inclement weather.

"I cried all week because I missed it," Kramer said from the
check-out register at the convention where she was buying Cher T-shirts and pens
that read "Have a great Cher day."

The stay-at-home mom and "devoted fan" of 32 years was joined by
her friend Kathy Vysoky, a hospital switchboard operator from Chicago who last
week flew to Baltimore to meet Kramer in person for the first time.

As with many of the fans at the convention, the two met three years ago in a
Cher chatroom and became Internet friends who were connected by their love for
Cher. The friends flew together from Baltimore to Las Vegas.

"We've just been laughing ever since," Kramer said. "It's been
awesome just to be with people who love Cher as much as I do."

Vysoky, a 20-year-fan, said her friends in Chicago don't share the same
enthusiasm for the superstar.

"They don't understand," she said.

Indebted to Cher

In an attempt to shed light on what it's like to be devoted to Cher, Chelsea
Recicar, a 46-year-old fan from Orlando, Fla., said she started writing a book
three years ago about Cher titled, "Fan of A Messy Icon."

"It's a story about what it's like to be a Cher fan," Recicar said
while selling homemade Cher magnets from a table in the convention hall. "I
have been defending Cher for 31 years.

"I stuck with her through it all. Even the famous infomercials."

As with other fans attending the convention, Recicar's fanship has a story
attached that began when Recicar was young.

"When I was 15, Sonny and Cher came out," Recicar said, referring
to the couple's television variety show.

"I had a very bad childhood. My home situation was very bad at the time.
Wednesday nights when the show came on was the only time I was happy.

"Ever since then I've followed her career."

It is because of Cher that Chad Michaels has a career.

The 31-year-old from San Diego has been impersonating Cher throughout the
country since 1992. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the singer/actress, he
performed Cher hits at the convention and mingled with fans.

Michaels said he met the star last year at a benefit in Malibu, Calif., where
he warmed the audience up for Cher.

"She was so sweet and completely kind to me," he said. "I'm
very grateful to her ... She's given me my life."

LAS VEGAS, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Want to dress up like Cher? Want
to answer
Cher trivia questions in a twisted version of The Weakest Link?
Want to bid
on Sonny & Cher memorabilia? Want to sing in a Cher karaoke?
Want to win a
brand new Harely-Davidson motorcycle autographed by Cher? Want to
see Cher's
Cleopatra costume from the movie "Mermaids." Want to
(we're not kidding
about this) participate in a seminar on Cher?

If the answer to any of these questions is in the affirmative then
you need
to be at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, July 12th and 13th. This
is where
the serious Cher fans from the US and at least eight other
countries will
gather for the Second Cher Convention. The first convention was
held in July
2000 in Chicago was an overwhelming success.

Fans will be Cher-ing it up even more this year with two dinner
shows, a
charity auction and all day, wall-to-wall Cher Convention
activities. What
better town for a Cher convention than Las Vegas?

Funds raised at the convention will go to a great cause that also
has a
strong Cher connection: the Children's Craniofacial Association
(CCA). Cher
first became involved with CCA following her award winning
performance in
"Mask," in which she played the mother of a boy born
with a severe facial
disfigurement. Cher is the National Spokesperson for CCA, and
often attends
the organization's events, particularly the annual retreat for the
CCA kids
and their families. Cher also visits affected children and invites
them to
her shows across the country. The convention was conceived as a
unique way
of honoring Cher by supporting a cause in which she deeply
believes.
Additional information about CCA can be found at http://www.ccakids.com.

Funds raised from raffling off a Cher-autographed, new
Harley-Davidson
Softtail motorcycle will go directly to CCA.

Cher fans from around the country organize the Cher Convention.
Additional
information on the convention and registration information can be
obtained athttp://www.cherconvention.com.

The annual convention dedicated to anything and
everything about Cher
kicks off at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas on
Friday (July 12). The Cher Convention 2002, which
takes place on both Friday and Saturday (July 13),
will feature Cher-themed auctions, karaoke, trivia
games, seminars, dinners, and dances, as well as
performances by both male and female Cher
impersonators. This year's convention will also
celebrate to the 30th anniversary of TheSonny
& Cher Comedy Hour.

All proceeds from the convention paying tribute
to the legendary singer will go to the Children's
Craniofacial Association (ccakids.com). Cher is the
national spokesperson for the Children's
Craniofacial Association (CCA), and first became
involved with CCA after she starred in the 1985
movie, Mask. In the film, Cher portrayed the
mother of a child with a craniofacial condition.

Meanwhile, as the convention in her honor
commences, Cher's Farewell Tour 2002, with special
guest Cyndi
Lauper, heads to the Van Andel Arena in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, on Friday and to the Bradley
Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Saturday. For
more information about Cher Convention 2002, please
visit cherconvention.com.